


there's no hope in the dead

by cettevieestbien



Series: characters who need more love [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Desperation, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Male Friendship, Nuclear Warfare, Reaction, mentioned - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-13
Updated: 2015-12-13
Packaged: 2018-05-06 13:28:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5418794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cettevieestbien/pseuds/cettevieestbien
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Howard Stark is told that Steve Rogers is dead, and, in true Stark fashion, doesn't believe a word of it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	there's no hope in the dead

**Author's Note:**

> For an anon who went by "SecretStorywriter" on my Commanos fic.

Phillips tells him.

 

Howard is coming up with ideas for a nuclear bomb, but he’s still keeping up with his friends. He can’t reach Peggy, for some reason, and no matter who he asks, no one knows where she is.

 

No one will tell him where the Cap is, either, and of the remaining Commandos, they’re not at the base. He chases everyone around, trying to find Peggy or Steve.

 

Eventually, one of the other scientists gets sick of him and forces him out of the labs. So, Howard goes and finds Phillips. They don’t know each other too well, but they’ve worked together long enough.

 

 _Phillips is too sour_ , Howard told Jarvis once, _for a sweetheart like me_.

 

Despite that, Phillips treats Howard like he treats everyone else - like an idiot. It’s refreshing. But when Howard enters Phillip’s office, the older man tenses. Odd. That’s new.

 

Phillips looks at him, and gestures at the chair in front of his makeshift desk. Howard doesn’t really want to, but he does it anyway, because this guy isn’t someone you just don’t listen to. Unless you’re Steve Rogers or Peggy Carter, but he’s neither of them.

 

He’s not nearly as good a person as them.

 

He does know how to follow orders, though, and so he sits. And when Phillips just goes back to work and says nothing, he… twiddles his thumbs. What? He’s got anxious hands.

 

Phillips sighs and looks up at him. “Stark,” he drawls, “I will be done with this in just a moment. Please wait.” And then he goes back to his paper.

 

Howard _tries_ , honest to god, to be quiet, but he can’t. So he fills the silence. “You know, I’m working on something top secret, but I want to talk about it. It’s… not good. It’ll kill people, a lot more than the boys do. Speaking of them, where’s Peg? Where’s Steve? Why can’t I - “

 

“Howard.” Phillips says gravely, and cuts him off. “You don’t know.”

 

It’s not a question, he notices. He leans forward. “Uh, no? I don’t know what?”

 

“Captain Rogers is dead,” he informs. Howard falls back in the chair, breath leaving him like he’d been punched.

 

“What?” His mind is blanking. “Wait, does Peggy know?”

 

“Yes, Agent Carter knows. She was speaking to him when he died.” He continues to write what looks like an eulogy. Howard swallows, feelings catching in his throat.

 

“Speaking to - how did he die? How was she speaking to him?” His mind is racing, thinking of a million, awful scenarios.

 

Phillips doesn’t look up, just says in his dry voice, “he crashed a plane in the arctic ice. He was able to talk through the radio Morita was using. I’m sorry.”

 

Howard…. Good god, how does he react to this? Steve is dead.

 

Phillips looks up at him, in his gaping and shocked state, and repeats, “I’m sorry.” When Howard doesn’t react, he says, “Stark, leave. Go back to the bomb you’re making.”

 

His head jerks at that, eyes wide. “I - “

 

“I’m high up enough to know what you’re doing. Again, I’m sorry, and again, leave.”

 

Howard stands and Phillips nods at him, encouraging him to get a move on. His legs feel like they don’t work, but he staggers his way out of the office without tripping anyway.

 

Crashed a plane? Dead? Steve’s dead? His mind can’t seem to dredge together any complete thoughts.

 

He makes his way back to his lab and sits heavily in his chair.

 

He looks at his notes for the bomb and stares. They’re scattered, and nearly illegible, but….

 

Looking back at his notes from previous projects helps him get his thoughts in order. And while he doesn’t have Erskine’s notes, he remembers the older man saying something about being resilient.

 

It’s a long shot, but he may be resilient enough to survive a plane crash. Howard’s mind goes haywire,and he starts looking for some blank paper.

 

He has an idea. He can conduct a search to try to find the plane. He’ll have to talk to Peggy, figure out where Steve’s last known whereabouts were, but he could do this.

 

And well, if the Captain isn’t resilient enough to survive, at least he’ll be bringing back a body.

 

The more he thinks it through, the more he wants to do it. And he already knows the boys and Peggy will support him.

 

Howard flies out of his lab, looking for someone who can give him some latitude and longitude coordinates. He’ll have to juggle two projects, but hey, he’ll do it if it means getting Steve back.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Howard was really fun to write, because he's not quite an asshole yet. As for Phillips, I think he's grieving but can't exactly show it.


End file.
